Kodiak Island Births: June 17 • Christopher Robert Medeiros was born at 3:43 p.m. June 9, 2014, to Amelia and Alex Medeiros. He weighed 8 pounds, 11.6 ounces and measured 21.75 inches long. His parents are originally from Lodi, California, and now live in Kodiak. His father is in the Coast Guard in Kodiak. Grandparents are Robert and Pam Medeiros from Lodi, California, and Kathryn Brown and the late Russell Cochran from Elk Grove, California. ...

Outdoor Kodiak: An early start for pink salmonWith the focus on king salmon over the last month, you’d think most of the questions I hear involve those great brawlers. Not so! Here’s what I’m hearing: “Are you seeing any pink salmon yet, Hank?” It’s quite a jump from 30-pound king salmon to 3-pound pinks, so you have to wonder why folks are interested. That’s because the earliest pink salmon are special fish, even if they’re small. You don’t need a boat to ca...

Dunbar goes out champ-styleTrevor Dunbar closed out his stellar college career as a national champion. The University of Oregon men captured their first outdoor track and field title in 30 years on Saturday at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, and Dunbar played a huge role in ending the drought. A day before, the Kodiak High School 2009 graduate ran the fastest 5,000 meters by an Alaskan and seventh quickest by an Oregon runner to f...

Dunbar finishes college career a championTrevor Dunbar closed out his stellar college career as a national champion. The University of Oregon men captured their first outdoor track and field title in 30 years on Saturday at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, and Dunbar played a huge role in ending the drought. A day before, the Kodiak High School 2009 graduate ran the fastest 5,000 meters by an Alaskan and seventh quickest by an Oregon runner to f...

Kodiak celebrates Flag DayDozens of Kodiakans met at Camp Mueller for a celebration of Flag Day, sponsored by the Kodiak Elks Club, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. All Elks clubs are required to commemorate Flag Day, said James Swearingin, the leader of the Elks, at the beginning of the celebration. The Coast Guard color guard placed the U.S. flag and the military flag at the front of the room to begin the event and r...

Museum hosts Baranov experts from his hometownRussians perceive Alexander Baranov as a “great man” comparable to Columbus who used an authoritarian style of leadership because the difficulty of the situation in Alaska demanded it. The Baranov Museum hosted two men from Baranov’s hometown of Kargopol: Andrei Agapitov, a high school teacher and regional ethnographer, and Radik Adnobaev, the owner of a Kargopol travel agency. They gave a presentation about Kargo...

Kodiak city council passes 2015 budgetThe Kodiak City Council passed a $35.9 million fiscal year 2015 budget on Thursday night, some 7 percent lower than last year’s budget. Revenue is expected to be $35,906,466 during the 2015 fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2015. City expenses, not including capital project expenditures, are expected to equal that amount as well. The fiscal 2014 budget totaled $37,039,403, a six percent decrea...

Library eyes building on Flag Day traditionsThe Kodiak Public Library held its first-ever Flag Day commemoration on Sunday, bringing the tally of Flag Day events up to two. Organizers of both events hinted that a more coordinated approach may happen in coming years. The Elks held a longer, more orchestrated flag ceremony featuring a color guard, a history lesson on flags, songs and sandwiches afterward. The Elks have been commemorating Flag Day for more tha...

Seafood and politicosYou’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: The seafood industry is Alaska’s largest private employer, putting more people to work than mining, oil/gas, timber and tourism combined. The annual revenue the seafood sector contributes to state coffers is second only to Big Oil. So where does the seafood industry rank among the major candidates running for Alaska Governor and the U.S. Senate? Here’s what a thorou...

On Spruce Tips and PiratesDuring Captain Cook’s voyages along the Vancouver Island coast in the 1700s, he often sent crewmembers ashore to pick the tender tips of spruce trees during late summer and early spring. The tips, with a mellow pine scent and crisp flavor were used to make a molasses-sweetened brew, not so much for the crew’s entertainment on their long ocean voyages, but to prevent scurvy, a ravaging disease caused by a vitamin C...